


Tears & Tales

by dancing_in_the_rain



Category: The Shannara Chronicles (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Prompt Fic, Vulnerable Eretria, mild description of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-11 03:40:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7874788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancing_in_the_rain/pseuds/dancing_in_the_rain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eretria's haunting past has ultimately caught up with her, and one night in spite of the pain her past has caused her she finally lets Amberle in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tears & Tales

**Author's Note:**

> Here are a couple of prompts that I got and decided to put together. Sorry it has taken me so long to write them.
> 
> Prompt: the big bad Eretria gets really scared (nightmare maybe or something) and ends up having a panic attack, Amberle calms and soothes her? (I’m a sucker for vulnerable Eretria! Please! :)
> 
> Lately Eretria’s past has been really hurting her, she finally opens up, crying to Amberle. Actually wait, their both crying (prompt)

6 Months had passed since the battle against the Dagda Mor was won, celebrations had led long into the months following the success. The elves had made a somewhat peaceful agreement with the gnomes and with Amberle’s Uncle Ander now King everything was running smoothly. Eretria and Amberle were officially together now, each day reviling in the acceptance they received from everybody. The pair were often seen around the castle together, laughing, holding hands and most importantly happy. Everything was well. It wasn’t long after Eretria and Will were able to get Amberle out of the Ellcrys that the two girls admitted their feelings for each other, and everything started to fall into place. Eretria was the happiest she had been in a long time and Amberle was finally sure she was with someone she loved dearly. 

It was sitting by the open window in their room with her knees to her chest looking out at the night sky, where Amberle found Eretria, after a meeting she had with Ander and the council.

“Hey.” She murmured softly as she walked over, noticing that Eretria was clearly in some sort of day dream.

Amberle’s voice snapped her out of her haze and Eretria turned with a smile seeing her girlfriend. “Hey.” She hummed back, opening her arms for a hug. 

That was one thing Amberle recognised with a smile as she hugged Eretria. Fairly soon into their relationship she found out that her new girlfriend was quite the hugger, even though it didn’t show a lot of the time, and to other people she looked far from the hugging type.

“Are you alright?” Amberle asked, moving to sit down next to her.

“Yeah I’m fine.” Eretria nodded. “Why?”

“No reason, you just looked at little spaced out when I walked in.” Amberle explained finding Eretria’s hand and lacing their fingers together. It was something Amberle had noticed recently that she’d always find Eretria with her mind elsewhere. Eretria stayed silent but squeezed Amberle’s hand softly as a reply.

Eretria broke the silence after a moment. “How was the meeting?” Some members of the council were not entirely comfortable with Eretria joining in the annual meetings, she wasn’t that bothered though. The idea of sitting around listening to old elves talk didn’t tend to excite her. She'd be there if Amberle needed her, otherwise she was happy to sit out.

“Long, boring. Nothing new really.” Amberle sighed before pressing a light kiss to the side of Eretria’s head. “I’m going to have a shower and then go to bed I’m exhausted.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Eretria nodded her head at Amberle’s words, squeezing her hand once again as Amberle started to get up.

“You’re welcome to join me.” Amberle hummed, softly tugging at Eretria’s hand as she moved towards the bathroom. Eretria just smirked and chuckled slightly as she rose to her feet. 

“As you wish, princess.” 

Amberle smiled letting go of Eretria’s hand to go and turn the shower on, as Eretria moved to grab a couple towels.

“How was your evening?” Amberle asked as she started to take her clothes off, placing them in the washing basket.

Eretria just shrugged a little as she stepped out if her pants. “It was alright, didn’t get up to a lot.” She finally looked up at Amberle with a small smile as she threw the rest of her clothes in the basket. Amberle reached out for Eretria’s hand again, unable to resist admiring her girlfriends body. Eretria just rolled her eyes with a grin as she noticed Amberle’s eyes roaming over her body. She squeezed Amberle’s hand to get her attention back, upon realizing what she had been doing Amberle’s cheeks turned a faint shade of red. 

Eretria stepped into the shower first and gently pulled Amberle with her. The warm stream of water was exactly what both girls needed. Eretria moved closer, wrapping her arms around Amberle’s waist, Amberle hummed in response resting her arms round Eretria’s neck. The pair stood like that for around 10 minutes before showering properly. Amberle yawned after washing the last bit of conditioner out of her hair, causing Eretria to chuckle.

“C’mon, I think it’s time for bed.” Eretria smiled softly, tucking a bit of hair behind Amberle’s ear. Amberle nodded her head smiling at the small touch. They turned the shower off and hopped out. Wrapped up in towels they moved towards the dresser to put on some light sleeping clothes. Amberle hopped into bed first and started to get comfortable, Eretria crawled in after her. They faced each other in bed each wrapping a lose arm around the other. Amberle leaned forward a little to press her lips softly to Eretria’s. 

“Goodnight.” Amberle hummed kissing her again.

“Night princess.” Eretria murmured with a grin.

~

Amberle woke up to a sharp movement right next to her, she sat up slowly and realized shortly after yawning that something was wrong. Eretria was murmuring in her sleep with a frown set on her face, her movements became more rough and her breathing irregular. Amberle sat up properly and gently put a hand on Eretria’s shoulder.

“Hey.” She said softly, rubbing her eye slightly with her other hand. 

Eretria shied away from Amberle’s touch letting out a cry she curled into herself trembling. Amberle’s eyes widened as she retracted her hand hastily.

“Eretria?” Amberle called out concern growing, keeping her hands to herself this time. There was no reaction from her girlfriends trembling body. She had never seen her girlfriend in a state like this before and she was starting to panic. “Eretria, please!” Unable to resist the urge to reach out again.

Eretria jolted awake with a bloodcurdling scream, scrambling so far back that she fell onto the ground. Amberle immediately moved to the edge of the bed. Eretria was sitting on the floor with her legs to her chest and her head resting on her knees. The only sound that rang throughout the room was Eretria crying softly whilst trying to control her breathing. 

Amberle promptly moved down onto the floor and sat opposite Eretria. “Hey.” Amberle murmured placing a hand over her girlfriend’s. Eretria flinched at the contact not able to stop herself, causing Amberle to frown. 

Amberle stayed quiet for a few minutes, waiting until she couldn’t hear Eretria’s sobs. “Do you want to come back on the bed?” She asked softly. Eretria nodded her head slowly, still not meeting Amberle’s eye.

Carefully Amberle help Eretria crawl back on the bed, she sat down next to her wrapping an arm around Eretria’s shoulder. It was a moment before Eretria leaned into the touch, resting her head against Amberle’s chest. With her free hand Amberle gently pushed some of the hair out of Eretria’s face. “Hey, look at me.” Amberle whispered.

Eretria slowly glanced up at Amberle, before she could look back down Amberle raised her hand to brush away a few of her girlfriends remaining tears. Eretria just moved her head down, snuggled closer and sighed. It was clear to Amberle that whatever Eretria had been dreaming of clearly shook her up something awful. She rubbed her hand up and down Eretria’s arm. She had never seen her looking so small. 

“Do you want to talk about it? Amberle asked tenderly. 

“No.” Eretria mumbled.

Amberle waited a moment. “Are you sure?”

“No.” She breathed defeated, wrapping an arm around Amberle’s waist.

“I’m here to listen when you’re ready.” Amberle said softly, smiling a little at the contact. “You can tell me as much or as little as you want.” It was a few minutes before Eretria began to talk.

“Cephelo’s isn’t the only Rover camp I’ve been in.” Eretria said quietly. “There were… others.”

Amberle nodded her head silently. Eretria shifted so she was sitting up, still leaning slightly into Amberle.

“The first Rover camp I remember was run by a guy named Argo. But the worst Rover camp I was in belonged to a man named Cerberus.” She whispered. “Ironic I know.” She chuckled darkly. “Named after the dog that guarded hell. That’s surely where I felt like I was.”

~ 

Eretria’s small frame was rocked to the ground, as the strong grip on her arm pushed her to the floor. She groaned as her teeth clicked together when her head hit the ground. Everything was spinning, she barely had time to refocus her vision.

“That’s not good enough!” A deep voice boomed, causing Eretria to flinch. 

“I’m sorry, I tired!” Eretria cried out trying to sit up, ignoring the tears as they began to fall.

There was a swift kick and all of a sudden she found it hard to breath. Eretria lay back on the ground arms circling her stomach. Her ribs were bruised for days. 

“It better not happen again!” Cerberus spat as he yanked Eretria up to her feet. 

~

“Cerberus was awfully violent, to all the people in his camp apart from his close circle.” Eretria explained. “He searched for things you’d done wrong for an excuse to punish you and punishment meant pain.”

~

“My horse was not clean enough!”

“You call that knife sharp!”

~

“The only good thing about that camp was my best friend… Floyd.” Eretria choked up at his name. Amberle reached out to gently squeeze her girlfriends hand, she knew this was hard for Eretria, but she couldn’t help but want to know more. This was the first she had heard of Eretria’s past and she was intrigued.

~

“Tag you’re it!” Eretria giggled as she began to run over to the field.

“What no! It’s your turn to be it.” Floyd chuckled running after her. 

It was their only break of the day, they got half an hour around lunchtime each day to do with what they pleased. The two kids were so caught up in playing games that they didn’t realise that their half hour was up. It wasn’t until they heard yelling from the centre of camp that they knew they were in trouble…

“Sir, it wasn’t her fault.” Floyd spoke up as he boldly stepped in front of Eretria. 

“I don’t care who’s fault it is but since you decided to talk back to me.” Cerberus snarled raising his arm to back hand Floyd in the face sending him to the ground with a loud thud. 

“No!” Eretria yelled trying to step forward, but found a firm hand had gripped her wrist.

“Now you, you’re coming with me.” Cerberus sneered, pulling Eretria by her wrist towards his tent.

“Stop it! Let go of me!” Eretria grabbed at the hand around her wrist. 

Floyd was up off the ground faster than he had fallen. “Let her go!” He shouted, rushing at Cerberus fists flying. Cerberus rolled his eyes, twisting Floyd’s arm and sending him back to the ground.

“Get back to work boy before you regret it.” Cerberus warned with a growl.

Floyd was having none of that. He was back on his feet, grasping at the hand around Eretria’s wrist. “Let her go!” He yelled, digging his nails in. Cerberus had had enough, he pulled out a knife from the sheath at his side and plunged the knife into Floyds chest. Retracting the knife Floyd fell to the ground and Eretria screamed. 

“No!” Eretria yanked at her arm until the pain was close to unbearable. “Let me go!” She choked back tears leaning towards Floyds body, she had to help him, he couldn’t die. Cerberus just grumbled and tugged sharply at Eretria’s arm as he carried on towards his tent.

~

“I told him no. I told him-” Eretria’s voice cracked.

Tears clouded her vision as her words turned into chocked sobs as she tried to breathe. Amberle turned to face Eretria properly, as her body started to tremble. 

“Hey, no, hey. Look at me. Eretria focus on me.” She murmured softly as tears rolled down her own cheeks. What Eretria went through was unimaginable and it broke her heart. “You’re not there, you’re here now, with me.” It wasn’t until Amberle gently raised her hands to her girlfriend’s cheeks that Eretria was able to fixate on her and begin to calm herself. Amberle tucked pieces of Eretria hair behind her ears as she wiped at stray tears.

“I’m sorry.” Eretria hiccupped noticing the tear stains on Amberle’s cheeks, raising her hand in an attempt to rid a tear that just fell. Amberle just shook her head and moved forward to gently pull Eretria into a hug. Both girls wrapped their arms around one another fiercely. Eretria resting her head in the crook of Amberle’s neck. 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to apologise for anything.” Amberle breathed holding Eretria close. Eretria moved slightly so they were laying down on the bed still wrapped up in each other. 

“Yesterday was Floyd’s birthday.” Eretria breathed sadly.

“I’m so sorry.” Amberle murmured softly, tenderly pulling Eretria closer. They stayed silent in each other’s embrace for around 10 minutes. Amberle was grateful and saddened by the stories Eretria had shared. It made her look at her life and although there were struggles in it, they were nothing compared to the way Eretria grew up. 

“I love you.” Eretria hummed after a moment, with her guard completely down she was able to tell Amberle the words she’d been meaning to for a while. 

Amberle was slightly surprised to hear those words, but replied softly within a heart beat. “I love you too.”


End file.
